The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manipulating rod-shaped smokers' products including plain or filter-tipped cigars, cigarillos or cigarettes as well as sections of simple or composite filter rods. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for manipulating rod-shaped articles which are temporarily stacked and confined in polygonal receptacles of the type known as chargers or trays and must be fed to a consuming station, for example, to a station accommodating one or more packing machines, one or more machines for pneumatically transporting cigarettes, filter stubs or the like to one or more filter tipping or packing machines and/or other types of consuming machines.
It is well known to introduce the output of one or more producing machines, such as machines for the making of plain or filter cigarettes or machines for the making of simple or multiplex filter rod sections, into receptacles known as trays or charger.Iadd.s .Iaddend.and to transport the receptacles to one or more consuming machines. If the articles are plain or filter tipped cigarettes or the like, the receptacles will normally transport such articles to one or more packing machines. If the articles are sections of filter rods, they are normally transported to one or more machines for the making of filter tipped smokers' products.
Receptacles in the form of chargers or trays for stacks of confined rod-shaped articles are often utilized for transport of plain or filter cigarettes from one or more producing machines to one or more packing machines. A packing machine for cigarettes is normally provided with a hopper or a similar container for storage of a certain number of cigarettes which are withdrawn in the form of groups or blocks (e.g., blocks of twenty cigarettes each in the customary array including two outer layers of seven cigarettes each and a median layer of six cigarettes which are staggered with respect to the cigarettes of the outer layers). Furthermore, it is customary to provide for each packing machine a reservoir which supplies cigarettes to the hopper and serves to accommodate a major or main supply of cigarettes so as to insure that the packing machine need not be arrested in response to each (even short-lasting) stoppage of the associated producing machine or machines. In many instances, the transport of cigarettes from one or more producing machines to the reservoir for a packing machine is effected by a conveyor system which circulates filled and empty receptacles. Reference may be had to German printed publication No. 1,904,495 which describes an automatic transporting system for receptacles in the form of chargers or trays. A filled tray is delivered to an evacuating station and its reciprocable bottom wall is thereupon moved to an open position. A plunger or pusher applies by gravity a requisite pressure to the top layer of cigarettes in the tray so as to expel the stack of cigarettes from the interior of the tray into an intermediate magazine. The main purpose of the plunger is to equalize the top layer of cigarettes during evacuation from the tray. The thus emptied tray is then replaced with a filled tray and the same procedure is repeated. Conveyor belts are employed to transfer cigarettes from the intermediate magazine into the reservoir for the packing machine. The transfer of fresh stacks of cigarettes from filled trays into the intermediate magazine takes place at spaced intervals so that the lowermost layer of cigarettes in a filled tray which occupies the evacuating station is often located well above the top layer of cigarettes in the intermediate magazine. Consequently, the cigarettes which are being expelled from a filled tray must cover a considerable distance by moving under the action of gravity so that at least some cigarettes are likely to change their orientation and to clog the intermediate magazine and/or the reservoir for the packing machine. Improper orientation of a single cigarette often necessitates lengthy interruptions in the operation of a packing machine with attendant losses in output and contamination of the respective reservoir and/or packing machine.